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The notion of a rug or carpet being quintessential—which is to say definitively indicative of the singular aesthetic of its maker— is certainly nothing new. In fact, it is quite time honored and traditional. Kerman, Kashan, Heriz, and Tabriz—to name but a few—are iconic and easily recognized examples of names that came to define aesthetics inherent to a specific place and indeed time.

Black and white creates a strange dreamscape that color never can. – Jack Antonoff

The episode of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations in in which the the noted chef, author, and documentarian explored the epicurean delights of Rome is a cinematographic delight.According to Bourdain, it also “violated all the conventional wisdom about making television.”

Contemporary. In the context of decorative rugs and carpets what does the word even mean? Does it reference a genre? Or does it mean anything made today, in this era? Left intentionally vague as to elicit a diverse response, one savvy contributor queried to clarify: “Do contemporary designs ever ‘ grow up’ and become traditional?”

With the pronouncement of “Living Coral” as the 2019 ‘Color of the Year’ by a certain color marketing firm came the usual flurry across social media and beyond of image after image after image of products, including rugs and carpets, exhibiting the hue. Each of them, to quote Pantone, “emit the desired, familiar, and energizing aspects of [a] color found in nature. In its glorious, yet unfortunately more elusive, display beneath the sea, this vivifying and effervescent color mesmerizes the eye and mind.

Owing to its origins as a historically rare, difficult, and thus cost-intensive color to produce, purple has long been associated with regality and the privileged.

The Greek title of this feature, Porphyrogénnētos, translates literally as “born in the purple” and was the Roman and Byzantine concept under which children born to reigning emperors held superior rights to the throne over siblings born before their father ascended the imperial throne.

Revered as deities, feared as harbingers of doom, or held as symbols of the inner struggles of man, animals have great significance in cultures around the globe. To thoroughly examine these varied interpretations of animals across the spectrum  of humanity, would be a herculean task requiring volumes, and perhaps a lifetime to comprehend.

We’re just mad about saffron, and gold, and yellow, and squash and … The myriad versions of the color described as yellow tend to delight, enliven, and beautify. Indeed, the particular hue created by the pigment yellow ochre is considered one of the first used in art; the Lascaux cave paintings discovered in France in 1940 feature a yellow horse dating to some 17,000 years ago.

What is it about a carpet that inspires an exuberant ‘Wow!’? Is it the color? The design? The material? The construction? Maybe it is as former rug and carpet dealer Nedret Gürler once stated: ‘Color is like the appearance of an attractive person; it draws you in. Design is like their personality; it keeps your attention.’